


The Tobacco Scented Candle

by mythicalamity



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Developing Relationship, Eventual Smut, M/M, Mild Angst, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:28:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29354214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicalamity/pseuds/mythicalamity
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 26
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

Rhett wouldn’t normally choose to go to a flea market on the one weekend of that month that he didn’t have either basketball practice or a game. But there was also no way he was spending that one sacred weekend without Link. And Link was going to the flea market with his momma; therefore, so was Rhett. 

Rhett couldn’t believe how many tents and tables they’d fit into the church parking lot. He and Link quickly peeled away from Momma Sue when she got to gossiping with some friends she'd run into, and set out to explore. 

Rhett tried to feel adventurous about it, and he even had some allowance money burning a hole in his pocket - in case found any hidden treasures. But old dusty linens and silverware were hardly thrilling prospects. Some of the jewelry looked kind of cool. But it wasn’t like he was gonna wear it, or like he had any girl that he was sweet on that he could buy it for. One table had vintage trophies on it that looked cool, but Rhett couldn’t imagine owning a trophy he hadn’t earned. 

“Close your eyes!” Link said, popping out of nowhere. 

Without a second thought, Rhett let his eyes close. 

“Now _sniff_.”

Rhett was a little skeptical of that request, but he closed his eyes and took a whiff. 

“It’s a scented candle,” Link stated. “Based on smell alone, make up a name for it. You know. Like one of those poetic, nonsensical scented candle names.”

Rhett smiled and tried to think of something funny. “Sour Granny’s Crummy Pie?”

Like snorted. “Open your eyes.”

Rhett did. 

Link revealed, “Granny Smith Apple. Huh. Not as whimsical as I thought it might be…”

Rhett shrugged and continued browsing and smelling the diverse bouquet of candles. He picked up an unassuming milky beige candle and read the label: _tobacco_. 

“Tobacco scented candle?” Link read, peeking around Rhett’s arm and wrinkling his nose. “Like what? A dank, smoke-filled bar? Or my granddaddy’s breath when he’s smoking his pipe and then he gets all close to my face to tell me some corny joke… or story I heard a million times. That’s what I’m imagining.”

Rhett wasn’t sure how the game switched from ‘smell and guess the name’ to ‘read the name and guess the smell’. He lifted the lid and took a sniff. It smelled sweet and woodsy, like tobacco fields in nature. Nothing like the stale and ashy smells left behind after it had been smoked. 

Rhett had never been a scented candle kind of guy. But he wasn’t a flea market kind of guy either - yet here he was. His eyes shifted over toward Link, as if he was asking his opinion on the purchase, if not his permission. Link simply shrugged, and Rhett mirrored the gesture before walking over to pay the woman for his tobacco scented candle. 


	2. Chapter 2

Rhett could see the look of surprise on Link’s face when he opened the door to see Rhett there unannounced. 

It was a given that Rhett was always welcome at the Neals’ house. But he still usually called first. For practical reasons more than politeness. Rhett generally wanted to have a plan before they met up: what would the weather permit, was Link’s mom home, were they going to do indoor or outdoor stuff. They usually planned all that stuff out ahead of time over the phone. 

Rhett hadn’t even known if Link was home when he’d hopped on his bike and burned the rubber of his bike’s wheels for Link’s house. 

Link’s automatic reaction of excitement at his best friend’s unexpected visit waned a little as he registered that something wasn’t quite right. He invited him in and they went up to his room. 

“Everything okay?” Link asked somewhat awkwardly. 

Rhett understood. They didn’t really talk about feelings much. And Link was historically sulkier, so it was a bit of a role reversal for Link to be faced with the prospect of cheering Rhett up. 

Rhett was very self aware, and hated sounding like a stereotypical teenager. But what the hell.. He was a teenager. Maybe he could grant himself this one instance of teenage angst. 

“My mom’s being a jerk,” he stated plainly. 

Link looked surprised by that, which Rhett could understand. His momma really was sweet, especially toward Link. So surely this new development came as a surprise. Rhett already felt ridiculous for having said anything. But despite his surprise, Link didn’t tell Rhett he was being ridiculous. 

“That sucks, brother. What happened?”

“She won’t let me… burn that candle I got at the flea market.” Rhett felt his face flush pink. Oh goodness, he was being ridiculous. Teenage angst was supposed to be over loud music, or drinking beers, or spending too much time foolin with girls. Not about scented candles. 

But again, Link did not treat Rhett like he was just being silly. Which was kinder than Rhett was treating himself at the moment. 

“What if you close your bedroom door when you burn it?”

“Tried that,” Rhett couldn’t resist pouting and rolling his eyes. “She said it still permeates the whole house.”

“Oh… Hey! I have an idea. Can we ride our bikes back to your house to get it?”

“I, uh…” Rhett gestures to his backpack. “I actually brought it with me. I guess I was thinking if I couldn’t use it, maybe you could. And then I could at least smell it over here.”

Link snorted. “My momma barely trusts me with the microwave as often as I’m home alone. You think she’d let me have an open flame in here?”

Rhett chuckled, feeling better that Link hadn’t made fun of him for such a stupid problem. “So what’s your idea?”

* * *

Rhett and Link rode their bikes out toward the woods, and as the number of houses decreased and the number of trees increased, Rhett knew where they were headed well in advance of their arrival. 

They had a hideout out in the woods. It wasn’t exactly a treehouse or a fort. They were a little too old for forts now. But hideouts still felt okay. They had a couple of weather worn camping chairs, some comic books and magazines stashed in a garbage bag to protect them from the elements. Their spot was beneath a dense patch of foliage, to keep as much of the wind and rain from reaching them. But it was still outside. Several empty cans of Mello Yello littered the forest floor of their hideout, and some full cans of cheap beer that Link had swiped from Momma Sue’s ex boyfriend - not that they were nervous to try them, they just hadn’t found the right occasion. 

“So, obviously your parents’ house is your house too,” Link began. “Like, you live there and all. But it’s still _their_ place. And you gotta follow _their_ rules and crap.” Link helped himself to rummaging in Rhett’s backpack. He pulled out the tobacco scented candle. “But this here is _our_ place.” Link surprised Rhett by pulling out a pack of matches. 

Link lit the candle, and at first it just smelled like matches. But then the scent smoothed out and filled the open air with a thin sweet scent of tobacco. Of a freshly packed pipe. The aroma of the actual woods blended with the artificial scent of the candle - which represented more the romanticized version in Rhett’s mind of what the woods smelled like when he wasn’t actually sitting in them. It made Rhett’s heart swell with nostalgia for all the times they’d spent out here. As Link had pointed out, in their place. 

“I think your momma’s wrong, Rhett. I love this smell.” 

“I love… it, too.” Emboldened by his lifted mood, Rhett walked over to the garbage bag and pulled out a couple of beers. “Have a drink to christen Our Place?” Rhett offered, hoping he’d injected enough humor into his tone that Link wouldn’t see through to the vulnerable and sincere heart of his statement. And how he was wondering what it would be like to really share a place with Link. Waiting for him to come home from work. Taking turns making dinner. Telling each other about their days. Quiet nights sipping drinks together like this. The pleasant, sweet smell of a tobacco scented candle in their home. 

Link cracked open the beer, and cheersed his buddy. They caught each other making bitter faces as they both took their first sips. But they eased into the flavor, both utterly at ease as they shared a drink in their shared place. 

Rhett was content to keep his other thoughts to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

It was easy to blend tastes with Link, Rhett thought as they moved into their college dorm room together. They liked all the same movies and music, and they’d always had the same sense of style. Or different evolving styles over the years, that led them to their particular sense of style - or how they tried to represent themselves to the world today. 

Sometimes Rhett wondered if they came by their similarities through nature or nurture. Were they both with these similar senses of style and humor and interests - and maybe that’s how they’d always been such fast and lasting friends? 

There was something kind of… cinematic about that. That they were two similar souls born into different families and different states that eventually found their way to each other, and recognized those similarities like looking into a mirror and finding that “Hey. This one matches me!” Rhett supposed that was what people meant by kindred spirits. Or like, soul mates, but… maybe without the mating.

But Rhett thought that what he liked more than the idea of them being born perfect for each other, was them being born different from each other - and then making each other perfect. Maybe the only reason that they grew to like the same things and share the same values is that they’d grown up influencing one another. If one leaned into a certain musical artist, the other leaned with him. They pruned and shaped each other's lives, making certain that they always fit together. 

Rhett liked this version because it gave them agency. They had chosen to be best friends, and now they’d chosen to be college roommates. It was nice to think they’d been destined to be together like this, but it was nicer to think that they’d chosen to be together - and would keep choosing each other through each stage of their lives. 

Rhett pushed the last drawer closed and it was official. He’d finished unpacking. He was moved into his college dorm. 

Link sat down next to Rhett on his bunk and clapped him on the back. “This is it, man! We’re home!”

Rhett smiled. He liked the sound of that. 

“Hey, uh… Rhett?”

“Mmm?”

“Would it be odd if I said I got you, like.. a housewarming present?”

“Well. Yeah! Because we didn’t agree to doing any kind of gift exchange. So I didn’t get you nothin and now I look like an asshole.”

“It ain’t just a look, brother,” Link teased him with a wink.

Link walked over to his dresser and pulled something out that was wrapped in the plastic bag the store had put it in. Rhett would have wagered the receipt was still in the bag. 

Rhett pulled out a… a scented candle. 

“Oakwood & Tobacco,” Rhett read the label aloud. 

Link plopped himself back down next to Rhett. “Now I know it’s not traditional that guys give each other candles as gifts or whatever—“

“I don’t care what other guys ‘traditionally do’,” Rhett snapped. 

Link paused, before continuing, and Rhett felt bad for speaking so harshly. He wasn’t really snipping at Link or anything, it just felt so important that he say that - the words had all but burst out of him involuntarily. 

“Well, the reason I got it,” Link said, once Rhett’s breathing had calmed and the flush had left his face. “It reminds me of our place.”

“Our hideout,” Rhett smiled. 

“Now  _ this _ is our place.”

Rhett hovered his nose over the wax, and inhaled deeply. Memories flooded back, the way Link had made space for his strange purchase, the way he’d made it feel like home, memories of spaces they’d shared together, memories of future spaces they might someday share. Rhett stopped his imagination there. “You know we can’t burn this in here. It’s against the rules to have open flames in the dorms.”

“Oh yeah..”

Rhett held his breath as he covered his hand over Link’s. He breathed again once he was convinced Link wasn’t going to move it away. “Thank you though. It’s still pretty great, just like this.”


	4. Chapter 4

After college, Rhett and Link rented out their first studio space. Sure, they still had their day jobs as engineers, but nights, weekends, and any amount of free time they could carve out was to be dedicated to their shared creativity. 

They painted the walls a bold shade of green that they would eventually find to be... questionable, but at the time it seemed perfect. The green color reminded Rhett of their forest hideaway, and how the light would reflect off all the green, and the way that looked as it lit up Link’s impossibly blue eyes. 

This place was a new adventure, but it was also a coming home. During Rhett’s days at his office job, he felt like an actor playing the role of an engineer. When he was working in the studio with Link, he felt more like himself than he did any other time. Even when he went home at the end of the night, even when he was all alone - somehow he still wasn’t as  _ him _ as he was when he was with Link. 

Rhett waited until they’d spent their first month spending time in the studio before he brought the candle in. Link had been anxious about settling into a studio, furnishing it and decorating it; paying for it. Rhett wanted to wait until they were fully settled before making even a subtly emotionally charged gesture. 

“You still have it!” Link said in amusement. 

“Course I do. And unlike the dorms, we can even light it here!”

“Heck yes we can! Well, if you got matches we can.”

Rhett smiled and produced a lighter from his pocket, and lit the candle as Link held the jar in his hands. 

The scent was sweet and woodsy, and it made Rhett think of shared spaces, and cozy evenings in what should be home. 

He and Link stood next to each other, both leaning against the same desk. 

“ _ Now _ this studio really feels like ours,” Rhett said softly. 

“Ain’t no residents’ hall director gonna get us in trouble for open flames! We do what we want now, buddyroll!”

Their pinkies resting against the edge of the desk were so close to touching. The static energy between them was palpable. Rhett’s heart sped up from their simple proximity. 

“We do, don’t we?”

“Huh?” Link asked innocently. 

“Do what we want..” Rhett locked his pinky finger with Link’s.

“Oh,” Link cleared his throat nervously.

Their faces moved toward one another so naturally, their lips fit together like they were made to do so. 

The kiss started out cautious, and heated up quickly. They were both red-faced and breathless when they finally pulled apart for air. 

They never really talked about what happened. 

They also never stopped letting it happen - every late night they spent at the studio together. 


	5. Chapter 5

When they first moved to California, Rhett and Link found themselves yet again without an office. 

But that was the last thing on Rhett’s mind. He didn’t give a crap if they had to string together an office/studio out of his garage. They only owned one car between the two of them anyway, and its home base was at Link’s house. So he wasn’t using the space in the garage anyway. 

Something about the garage office felt right to Rhett. He didn’t allow a single doubt to creep into his mind about their choice to move out west. There was no way that they were going to reach their career goals if they stayed in North Carolina. Rhett also felt that California was a better environment to nurture some of their other aims as well. People were more open minded out here anyway…

Rhett’s heart was full of hope for them in so many ways as he arranged the last piece of decor in their little studio. One of those last pieces was a tobacco scented candle. He smiled to himself as he sniffed the solid wax and a thousand memories flooded back to him. 

This was _their_ place.

* * *

It had been a big adjustment for both of them. Not just the move. But also between the door closing on their television show and them trying to bust it open for their new YouTube show. Link and Rhett each dealt with stress in their own way, and Rhett didn’t hold it against Link that things had kind of cooled off between them. 

But he did begin to wonder, had he imagined all those nights of passionate kisses late into the nights in their Lillington and Fuquay studios.

Rhett would experiment by trying to touch toes, or press his leg against Link’s as they sat close to one another. Without fail, each time, Link would subtly recoil and scoot away. 

One night Rhett was feeling so desperate that he just went for it. He’d tried to play it cool as he lit _their_ candle in _their_ space. He planted a kiss on Link’s lips, hoping that Link would return even a fraction of his need. 

“Uh.. um..” Link stumbled over his words. “Everything okay with you and Jess?”

Rhett almost didn’t know what to say. “What? Yes. Yes, of course, yes. Things have always been good with her and me. But that’s never had nothin to do with things also being good between you and me.”

“Rhett. We’re at your freakin house!”

“It’s still our office. And besides, it’s only temporary. We get some money saved up and we’re gonna get a real studio. But for now.. I mean, we can make this work.”

“Maybe some things aren’t meant to be made to work.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying this to me right now..” Rhett mumbled to keep from screaming or crying. 

“I just don’t feel right doing this at your _home_. Which makes me feel like maybe we shouldn’t have been doin it at all.”

“I don’t believe that, Link. It was always my hope that we make what we have here between us more transparent. I didn’t want to hide forever either. But even more I never wanted to stop! I thought we were building something together.”

“We are, Rhett. But it’s just too much for me to deal with right now.”

Rhett felt like a robotic empty shell as he went through those next few days. He heard Link murmur something to the camera, and somewhere on autopilot Rhett knew to say, “Let’s talk about that.”

But they didn’t talk about it. 

And they didn’t hold hands or kiss in their little backyard studio. 

And Rhett did not light his tobacco scented candle. 


	6. Chapter 6

Rhett and Link were moving into what they felt like was their first _real_ studio. The studio was separate from their office. And all of it was over the top exciting, as for the past couple years their space hadn’t been that separate from even Rhett’s house. 

It felt like things were really getting off the ground. It increasingly felt like more of a business than a hobby. Their silliness was being taken seriously. 

Rhett brought the last small moving box into the room that they’d claimed as their office. Link was doing a nice job of decorating the space with photos and souvenirs of events they’d attended, milestones in their career, and things that reminded them of the friendship that led to all this success. 

“We actually have too much stuff for one room. I’m thinking we can keep some of it in boxes, and then maybe rotate the decor, like, once a quarter or somethin?”

There was something in Link’s words that stirred the old yearning that periodically flared up in Rhett’s gut. But Rhett had gotten good at letting that stuff go. 

“Yeah, sure. That’s a good idea.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Rhett saw Link putting up the last piece of decor. A candle. He could guess the scent without going over to read it. 

“Why’s that there?” Rhett asked sharply. 

Link shrugged. “It’s tradition, ain’t it? All our places have had one.”

“This isn’t _Our Place_ , though. Is it? It’s an office. It’s work.”

“Rhett… I don’t know what you want me to—“

“I used to like to think about what it would be like to build a home with you. Did you know that? How would we decorate it? What would it smell like? But now that I know that you weren’t building the same slice of alternate reality, it seems cruel of you to casually allude to it like this.”

“Rhett. I swear, some days I can barely handle one reality. What makes you think that I could handle two?”

“Because for me it doesn’t take any ‘handling’. It’s as natural as the words, it’s as easy as just you and me. Being all the things we’ve always been for one another. And still are. But without holding things back like we had in the past, and like we are again now.”

“We’re still building stuff together. We’re building our professional and creative lives together. And we are lucky enough to be building our personal lives parallel to one another…”

“Why parallel? Is parallel enough for you? You know, Link. The reason that all the stuff that we want to display here has to be rotated seasonally…? Our lives together aren’t meant to fill a room. They’re meant to fill a _house_. A home… And if you don’t see that for us, in any reality… I really would appreciate you not putting candles that belong in _our home_ in our goddamn workplace!”

Link’s face went blank for a moment. Sometimes he looked that way when he was thinking hard. Sometimes he looked that way when he was overwhelmed and mentally checking out entirely. Rhett usually had a good sense of which was which, but at this moment he didn’t have a clue what, if anything, was going through Link’s mind as he walked over to the shelf he’d set the candle on. 

Maybe he’d pushed too hard. Maybe he’d broken him, or them. 

Link took the candle off the shelf. 

Rhett wondered if he was going to put the candle back in the box. The way he’d tried to force the two of them back into their separate boxes. 

But instead, Link lit the candle and placed it back on the shelf. Wordlessly letting Rhett know that he’d reached the same conclusion: this genie wasn’t going back in the bottle. 

He walked back over to Rhett and tugged on his shirt roughly until Rhett brought his face down for a kiss. It was harsh and sloppy and Rhett could taste all of the feelings that Link had been repressing, spilling over into their embrace. 

Rhett brought his arms around Link’s smaller frame, and the way the Link fit there so perfectly made Rhett _ache_. He squeezed him until he heard a telltale grunt that let him know it was too tight. 

When they finally pulled apart for air, they were both breathless with chests heaving. Their cheeks were splotchy red and shiny with tears. 

“Parallel…” Link panted. “Has _never_ been enough.”


	7. Chapter 7

The new studio was like a dream. When they bought it, it had seemed like too much. He and Link had open conversations over whether or not they’d ever need or be able to support enough people on staff to fill the space. But they leaned into the encouraging things people they trusted had said they saw for Rhett and Link’s company, and they decided to make an investment in themselves. 

They were growing personally as well as professionally. Link had not gone back on his intention to not live parallel to Rhett. Gradually, discussions were had, and they had agreed, along with their wives, to begin to confront and explore the things in their relationship that they’d always just written off as a peculiarity to their friendship - and no longer ignore the other aspects left to simmer, with only quick, short, and inconsistent bursts of acknowledgement.

Rhett’s favorite aspect of the new studio space was the “secret loft”. It wasn’t really a secret, but it was really off limits to their crew. It was easy enough to explain away: Rhett and Link had always made time and space to brainstorm, create, and exist together - which had yielded some pretty great breakthroughs in creative content. However, as the company grew, it genuinely became more difficult for them to carve out those creative opportunities. And as they hired more crew, sometimes it felt like Mythical as an entity was developing its own voice, and there legitimately were days when that voice felt louder than their own voices, individually or combined. They had an office, but in general they liked to have an open door policy in making themselves available to the crew. So they had claimed the loft space as their “creative hideaway”, where they could retreat when they needed time to themselves, to be influenced by only one another’s thoughts and voices. 

And of course, they had other reasons as well. Other reasons to need the separate space. And they preferred not to use their office for those other reasons, and established a culture of that creative space being “off limits”. 

They had started making Thursday nights their date night. They did put in a couple of extra hours of work. But by 7 or 8 o’clock at night, they weren’t allowed to talk about work, and they would relocate from the office to the loft. 

They would take turns picking where they ordered takeout from, and try to one-up each other each week with some sort of signature cocktail or specialty beer they’d found during the week. They would watch movies together in the dark, cuddled up on the futon. Arms around one another, or holding hands - whatever felt comfortable and complete on any given night. Sometimes the movies were ones that Link somehow had missed growing up, other times they were ones they’d enjoyed together in college - seeing if they still held up. Other nights they’d listen to music: old records that made them nostalgic to remind each other who they were, or new records to show each other who they were becoming. They’d often harmonize together on the songs they both knew. They’d often dance together - something that was new to them. They’d danced for entertainment value, but dancing felt different when there were no other eyes on them. All these years of life and nobody had bothered to tell them how freeing it could feel to just let your body guide your movements. And their bodies were like opposite magnets that always wound up guiding themselves to each other. 

One Thursday night, they’d been listening to music, and slow dancing. The taste of a ridiculous peanut butter whiskey that Rhett had found and bought half as a joke, and half just because he couldn’t help thinking of Link when he saw it… Even if it was likely awful. 

It actually wasn’t bad. 

Link felt warm and soft in his arms as they swayed in the dimly lit loft. The scent of a warm tobacco pipe infused the air, and all the memories that piggybacked on the aroma made Rhett instinctively pull Link in closer. And when he did, he noticed that all of Link was warm - but not all of Link was soft. 

Link pulled back a little, which made Rhett frown. 

Link cleared his throat, “I’m.. sorry bout that.”

“Sorry? For..” Rhett’s eyes subconsciously darted to and from Link’s crotch. 

Even in the faint fairy light, Rhett could tell Link was blushing. 

“Let me?” Was all that Rhett managed as he pulled Link in close again and palmed the hot bulge in Link’s pants, eliciting an instant high pitched moan from Link. 

Link buried his face into Rhett’s shoulder. 

“Is this okay?” Rhett asked gently. 

“I… I mean, yeah! But… you don’t have to—“

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to touch you. I would tell you if I could, but I just literally can’t remember not wanting to, not thinking about it, not touching myself as I imagined what it’d be like..”

Link pulled Rhett down for a crushing kiss, and Rhett began to unbuckle Link’s belt. They stumbled back to the futon together, and Rhett quickly lowered it down to ‘bed’ mode. He helped Link to shimmy his jeans and underwear down past his hips, and guided him to lie flat onto the mattress. 

Rhett’s heart raced and his mouth watered as he stared shamelessly at Link’s cock in his hand. As large as Rhett’s hand was, Link was… proportional. Like it was meant to fit into Rhett’s big grip. 

Link was as responsive to his touch as Rhett had always dreamed. Link’s fists clung to futon cover as his body arched into Rhett’s touch. He then shifted his grip to Rhett’s arm, squeezing onto him as Rhett worked his cock with his firm grip. Link’s hand then slid down to cover Rhett’s. In a brief moment of panic, Rhett thought Link might be asking him to stop, but no.. He just wanted to rest his hand over Rhett’s as Rhett stroked him. He didn’t try to guide or direct Rhett, he just liked the extra point of connection. 

Rhett moved at a leisurely pace. Having lived this moment for so long in his mind, he was in no hurry now that the dream was real. It was also delicious fun to give Link just shy of what he needed. He was beautiful when he was needy. Whining and whimpering. Shifting his hips desperately, thrusting into Rhett’s fist. His tip was shiny and slippery as it leaked and glistened. Rhett could feel Link’s shaft engorged like it would burst in his hand. And Rhett grew excited all over again when he realized that if he kept going, that was exactly what was going to happen. 

He was going to get to see Link come. 

He was going to get to  _ make _ Link come. 

Rhett began to pick up the pace a bit, which was a relief to Link - judging by his little groans of approval. 

“Oh gosh, Rhett..” Link moaned, his eyes fluttering shut. “You feel so good.”

“You feel good in my hand, bo,” Rhett told him, his voice low and gravelly - reflecting how turned on he was. “I love touching you.”

Link’s mouth fell open and his muscles began to quiver. “I’m close. I’m gonna.. Oh, Rhett. I’m gonna—  _ Ohhh… Fffffu...” _

Link’s head tilted back as he spilled pearly pleasure over Rhett’s fist. Rhett was breathing heavily, and his heart was racing as he continued running his hand over Link’s spent cock, loving the warm wet feeling of Link’s come lubricating his movements.. literally getting off on the way that Link’s breaths hitched and his body twitched at his touches now that his nerves were raw and overstimulated.

Rhett swallowed a grunt as he came in his pants.

Link giggled as he caught his breath, “Did you just…?”

“Uh.. Yeah. Gonna have to hit wardrobe before we head out.”

“You know, I woulda… got you back?”

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t think you wouldn’t have.”

“I mean, I really would have  _ liked _ to.”

Rhett smiled. “Rain check.”

“I know you were a little more… adventurous than me back in high school and what not. But I.. I never even did as much as this with anyone else, outside of my actual marriage.”

Rhett had never really thought about that. His list wasn’t much longer than Link’s, but Link’s was extremely... exclusive. 

“I hope you’re not feeling any kind of guilt or regret over.. I dunno. Making stuff like this less special?”

Link’s brows knit together with confusion. “Less special? No man, I’m just trying to let you know how special stuff like this feels. It’s a big deal to me. Thank you.. Am I making it awkward?”

They both laughed, and then settled into a soft kiss. 

“You? Never.” Rhett smiled against Link’s lips. 


	8. Chapter 8

Their reasons for renting a house together seemed like a direct extension of their reasons for their secret loft. They needed their own creative space. The house quickly became colloquially known as the Creative House. 

It was everything that Rhett had ever dreamed of, ever since they were kids. They finally had their own space and shared domesticity. He felt less guilty now than he ever had in indulging his dreams, or for having them in the first place. Everything had begun to feel so much lighter ever since Link had opened himself up to sharing the dream. And living it.

Link had asked Rhett to meet him over at the creative house on Christmas Eve. He said he had a gift for him. Rhett wasn’t a dummy. He figured his beau had something romantic planned. He envisioned Link all cleaned up, sitting across from him for a candle lit dinner in  _ their _ dining room. Looking handsome in the dimly flickering light. 

Rhett changed his outfit at least three times before kissing his wife and heading out for the night. 

The moment that Rhett opened the door and stepped inside, his heart swelled. The fragrance of a tobacco scented candle wafted through the air. The masculine scent blended easily with notes of citrus, leather, and sandalwood. It was warm, comforting, nostalgic, and… wonderfully intoxicating. 

What Rhett didn’t smell was food. 

“Rhett?” Link’s voice called from upstairs. 

“Yeah!” Rhett confirmed with a shout. 

“I’m upstairs!”

_ Obviously,  _ Rhett thought. He sat the gift that he’d brought for Link on the kitchen island. 

“Okay..” Rhett said, as he headed that direction. 

Rhett was surprised that Link wasn’t in his office. He wasn’t in Rhett’s office either. He was in the middle room, the one that they’d equipped with a bed in case anyone ever had cause to… sleep there. 

Link was on the edge of his seat. Literally, sat at the edge of the bed, looking a bit anxious. He didn’t appear to have a card or gift or anything. Though Rhett did see that the tobacco scented candle burned soft and lovely on the dresser.

“So… What’s the, uh… plan?”

Link grinned. “You want your gift, huh?”

Rhett shrugged, “You were the one that brought up ‘gifts’ in the first place…”

Link seemed nervous and squirmy where he sat. Rhett had to say, it was pretty adorable. 

Link pulled a shiny red bow from behind his back and arbitrarily stuck it on his front - loosely between his chest and belly. 

“Merry Christmas?” There was a bit of a question in Link’s tone, and also a bit of magician flair as if there was an underlying  _ ta daaaa _ in what he had just revealed to his captive audience. 

“Are you my present?” Rhett confirmed gently. 

Link nodded. “If that’s something you’d want. Then yes.”

Rhett could feel himself filling with emotion, and his cock filling with desire. “I’ve wanted you like this for as long as I can remember.. You seem nervous, though?”

“Well, yeah. You’ve been wanting this your entire life. And so have I. Deep down…”

“Deep down, huh?” Rhett’s lips twitched into a playful grin. 

“Oh, shut up!” Link chuckled, but visibly relaxed with the breaking tension. “I just… I just don’t want to screw it up.”

“You won’t,” Rhett assured him. He lifted his shirt over his head and sat down on the bed next to Link. And Link quickly mirrored his movements in removing his own shirt. 

They slowly lay down on the bed, hands seeking one another’s skin as security points as their mouths naturally came together. Rhett wanted Link to take the lead where pace was concerned. He was prepared to kiss Link for hours, if that was what he wanted to do. He could kiss those soft, pillowy lips all night. Agile tongue massaging his, and artfully licking its way inside Rhett’s mouth. Rhett could feel the goosebumps rising on his skin, his pulse thundering in his neck, his nipples hardened. He was already having to renew his vow to himself to take it slow with Link… Part of him felt on the verge of exploding: he had wanted Link like this for over two decades. I’d they took it any slower, they’d be moving backward. But the larger part of him just wanted to make this as comfortable for Link as possible, because he wanted it to happen again. And again. For the rest of their lives. Now that  _ this _ was on the table, he never wanted it taken off. And consciously he knew that was not his decision alone, but he was going to do all he could to tip the scales in the direction that he so desperately wanted them to fall. 

Link had no intention of making Rhett wait all night, Rhett realized with a start as he felt Link’s hand tucking itself down the front of his pants. 

“Oh…” Rhett inhaled, the involuntary sound nearly coming out like a grunt. 

“Is this okay?” Link asked. His voice a strained rasp. 

“Hell yes, it is.”

“Good, you seemed nervous?”

“Of course, I’m nervous,” Rhett told him. “As we established,  _ I’ve _ been wanting this forever, I don’t wanna pressure you to do anything that you might.. maybe later.. wish you hadn’t done?”

“You do realize that I’m the one that asked you over here tonight? If it wasn’t clear before now… This is, as the kids say, a booty call, Rhett.”

Rhett’s nerves dissipated with his deep laughter. 

The scent of the candle kept tickling at the nostalgia center of his brain. As he lay entwined with his best friend, so close to finally coming together as one in this new way that they were offering one another - he was overcome with memories. They played out in the span of a half second, like his life was flashing before his eyes before dying. But this life was flashing before him as he felt his body about to come alive. The tobacco, the fields, the woods where he and Link first made space for the versions of themselves that they got to be when they were alone together. The trust, security, and vulnerability that they planted seeds for way back then, before they had a clue what might grow from them. Their college dorms and apartments. Their studios growing and changing over the years, where they poured and pooled their creativity while they continued to build their interdependence and what they ultimately realized was their love. The warm, musky fragrance threaded its way through Rhett’s senses, and before he realized it he and Link were lying naked. They were finally here. 

Link rolled onto his belly, and lifted his backend up into the air for Rhett. If he hadn’t already clarified his intentions before, he was making them beyond obvious now. Rhett took his cheeks into his hands and massaged them as he spread them. He dipped a thumb between them and pressed inside Link’s warm heat, making him sigh. As if Rhett had pressed all the air from Link’s lungs with his thumb. 

_ I knew the lungs were connected to the butthole _ , Rhett thought to himself, filing his joke away for a time when Link was less… vulnerable. 

Rhett began to work Link open with slicked up fingers. Easing any residual nerves with soft and deliberate kisses. 

Soon he was pressing himself steadily past Link’s tight muscles, taking his time as Link adjusted to the feeling and fullness of him. Making small mewling sounds as he began to rock himself backward on Rhett’s cock. Rhett realized that Link was the one taking the lead in this dance - guiding the pace and intensity. And all of that felt right. He was beyond thrilled to be led by Link. 

Link gradually worked himself upright, leaning back against Rhett’s chest, Rhett sat back on his heels and let Link bounce on his lap. The slapping sounds of Link’s ass against his thighs were driving Rhett crazy. His hands didn’t know where they wanted to be most. They started resting on Link’s hips, helping to pull Link down to meet Rhett’s upward thrusts. But Link didn’t really need any help with that; he was riding Rhett’s cock just fine on his own. So Rhett’s hands traveled up Link’s long lean body, slippery with sweat. His fingers roamed Link’s chest, played with his nipples. His palms flattened over Link’s chest just feeling the heaving rise and fall of his breaths. Finally one hand naturally moved to Link’s swollen and leaking cock, holding his shaft lightly as it moved smoothly in and out of Rhett’s grip with each bounce in Rhett’s lap. 

Rhett held onto Link tightly as he came. Kept him from slumping over as he finished writhing in his arms. Rhett gently laid Link down onto his front, and withdrew himself to finish by jerking off onto Link’s flushed buttcheeks. Splotchy from the repeated smacks against Rhett’s thighs. Link looked beautiful like this, and it only took a few short strokes for Rhett to be painting the pink canvas of Link’s ass with his come. 

Rhett, now equally as spent as Link collapsed next to him, matching his partner’s dizzy smile. 

“As often as I’d thought about that, you’ve surpassed all fantasies.”

For once, Link was speechless. But it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. There was simply nothing that needed saying in that moment; they’d laid it all out. Rhett just closed his eyes, and breathed in the scent of sweat, sex, laced with a lifetime of memories, and sweet tobacco scent.


End file.
